Filing PA return for married couple when a spouse died in 2020

You do not have to file separate returns you just have to have the surviving spouse as the primary taxpayer.

Dusty Ernie

I usually finalize the joint Federal return and the taxpayer's PA return.  I also make sure that I have all items coded correctly as T, S, or J.  Then I use the "Split MFJ Return" under the file menu in the homebase to prepare the spouse's PA return in the year of death.  PA changed the rules several years ago stating that if one spouse dies during the year a joint return can be filed for PA income tax purposes like it is for Federal purposes in many circumstances.  ProSeries has yet to fully adopt this change.  If the spouse dies during the year, everything works in ProSeries, and a joint PA tax return can be prepared.  If the taxpayer dies, you have to flip the taxpayer and spouse in the software in order to get it to work for PA purposes.  I think someone already mentioned this solution.   However, my understanding was that the same taxpayer should always be listed first on the Federal return once a joint return has been filed.  Therefore, you have to maintain two files in ProSeries anyway - one for Federal because you're not supposed to arbitrarily switch the taxpayer and spouse on a Federal return, and one for PA in order to allow for joint filing in the year of death.  That seems like more work than doing the "Split MFJ Return" to me, but that's a matter of opinion.